Chinglish is a mix between English and basically gibberish. They are words that have either wrong spelling or just doesn’t make sense. The first day I was in Tianjin I saw a notebook that said “Pooh Winnie The.” It was so funny to me to see that, now when I see things like that I just walk past it. Recently I’ve noticed how funny they sound and mean! P.S. Most of these pictures were taken on the same day!

This was a bulletin board with all the names of Cold Stones workers here were two of them!

This year for our Service Day me and my house went to a preschool/kindergarten. It was about a 20 minute ride to the school. When we got to the school we put our stuff down and went outside to sing some songs with all the kids. We sang London Bridges, If Your Happy and You Know It, and Bingo. The kids seemed to enjoy singing very much. After we sang for a while we got into groups of 5 people and played outdoor games with the kids. Our group played a game where we have a ball in a circle and we can’t let the ball get out of the circle. It made me so happy to see all these children having so much fun! Then we went inside with our same group and made crafts with 5 and 6 year olds. We made little paper plate birds! Everyone enjoyed making their bird and when we were done they gave us lovely goodbye! This was a great experience for me to interact with these children!

This the game we played in our small group.

This is our bird craft we made together.

This our whole house!

More and more I’ve realized how much you forget about things in America. Such as food brands. A few days ago me and mom were trying to figure out the name of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. We had totally forgotten the name of it! It always makes me laugh thinking about all those things you have forgotten. When I think about that I wonder if I’ll ever forget about China! I hope I never will! When I go back to America I will be sure to remember everything!

In Science class we have been learning about Light and Sound. Last week our class traveled to Beijing to a science museum!   We left school soon after arriving, loaded onto buses and headed to Beijing. When we got there we ate an early lunch, got in groups, and started for the museum. In the basement was the light exhibit.  There were many fun things to touch and play with! Then upstairs there was the sound part. I personally liked the sound display better. You could touch everything in the museum! It was a great opportunity to get see in real life some of the things we are learning in class!

Light Exhibit

Some of my 6th grade classmates

Last Friday the middle school had a sleepover party! It is called the lip sync party cause some people lip synced songs and won prizes! Me and Jessie did What Is This Feeling! We got in 3rd place! We also played games like Cops and Robbers, where some people who are cops chase the robbers! It was a very fun game! I enjoyed the party very much!

On February 28 the the Chinese people have a celebration called the lantern festival! They have many fireworks and families still visit together. It is really great but also very noisy!

A while ago me and my friends wen to go ice skating! The ice skating rink is actually a lake frozen up use as a skating rink.  You could chose between skating or chair skating. Chair skating is where you can get small a chair and a set of poles and you skate around on a chair! It is actually really fun! We played tag, racing, and believe it or not train on the chairs. I really enjoyed skating with my friends and can’t wait till I can chair skate again!

A few days ago our family went with another family to a school in the countryside of Tianjin. It was very interesting seeing the different ways the people live in the countryside compared to the city. When we got there we were welcomed (or you could say not welcomed) by watch dogs.  The school was very small and only about 5 rooms. The people who went to the school were in their twenties and lived at the school. Since we were pretty far away from our apartment, we stayed the night there.  It was VERY cold and had no heating!   But, the students were prepared with huge blankets so it wasn’t too bad.  Also you had go outside to get to the squatty-potty bathroom!  Although we had to get out of our comfort zones, when we were there the students and teachers were very kind and loving to us.This is where they cooked their food

This is where we slept

The fire under the stove

Me and my friend, Jason from  my 6th grade class

Out for a walk before dinner

On the last day of school before Chun Jie break we had a China day. Some people dressed up and we only had a half day of school the rest of the day we ate lunch and did Chinese activities! Last year in elementary we had to go with a group. So you didn’t exactly get to do what you wanted to do.  At the end we decided to get some Chinese traditional lollipop things with our group. There was a Huge line and when we finally got to the front of the line we ran out of time! So this year I had one goal it was to get one of those lollipops! After I ate I immediately went to the lollipop line. The line wasn’t that long but it took a while to make them. Also lots of people were holding there friends tickets as well as theirs so it took extra long. I was standing in the line for literally 1 whole hour(the only time we had)! It was frustrating but I got what I wanted and I achieved my goal!

The people in China are  very different from what I  imagined them to be. First off they are very nice.  I think that you would also be surprised at how they are towards foreigners and normal Chinese people. Second they are very different in their culture. They do things I would never think a normal people would do  (mostly men). One thing the men do is (in the middle of any season or weather), they sit out and play Chinese chess (or watch in a big group), also in the summer they always walk around with their shirt rolled way up to their chest, and the last thing they do is spit. They don’t care what people think they just spit. I see it at LEAST once a day.  Although the Chinese people are very different from American culture they are sweet to everyone they see.

The girls and me at our favorite Bubble Tea Shop.

Our for a walk last summer

Kids playing with the new water pipes that were being installed last summer.